For 50 Years My Father

We Always Talk About How Everyone Is Unifocal. You Can't Possibly Be Interested In Jazz And Beethoven. Of Course You Can. You Can't Both Be Reading A Newspaper And Be Online. Of Course You Can. We Shouldn't Be Obsessed With A Gun To Your Head, 'you Either Read A Newspaper Or Die!'

The 'gatekeepers' Became A Term Of Revile. But When You Think About The Flow Of Information, I Personally Value Immensely The Calibration A News Organ, Whether It's On The Web Or In Print, Brings To The Floodwaters Of Information. I Haven't The Time To Read All The Dispatches Of The Associated Press, For Example. It's Fantastic What They Put Out, It's Extremely Good, From All Over The World. I Like When Someone Acts As A Filter.

What I'm Driving At Is Let's Not Lose Sight In Our Excitement Of The Democratization Of The Media That Some Things Are Bad, False And Ugly - And No Amount Of Electronic Gloss Will Make Them True, Beautiful And Accurate.

Throughout America's Young History There Has Been A Necessary Tension Between The Individual And The Group.

My Wife [tina Brown] Co-founded The Daily Beast, So I Have No Hostility To The Web Or Internet. A Number Of Print Friends Of Mine Regard It As The Worst Thing That's Ever Happened, But I Don't.